Just use your normal dial up/broadband account and change your AOL plan to Bring your own access. (or something like that)
I've been doing that for a few years-kids and wifey like it, I hate it and never use it. It's not even on my computer anymore.
Which reminds me-I think I have a couple of accounts to close....all them freebee's add up after a while

I am (unfortunately) with AOL and have to agree that their software is indeed s***e. But being where I am in the UK, its the best connection I can get (56K wise) without being booted every 2 hours. i like to leave my comp downloading stuff overnight and I have to say that the connection is very reliable. But I ALWAYS use internet explorer, never the AOL browser.
Damn, this just reminds how much I need ADSL. One small problem, and her name's Angela (missus), LOL. Not found an angle yet, but I'm working on it - any ideas?

If anyone is interested, you can get an always on 128 connection for £15 a month from NTL, not as fast as broadband, but as cheap as AOL and twice the speed, it's even cheaper if you buy rather than rent the cable modem

I find that my ping rates are as low as 100 in Quake 3 with NTL, and you do have to subscribe to their telephone service, so real cost is about £19 a month, still quite competitive, plus you can upgrade to 512k if ya like as well.